Celebration of women in Methodism at Lake J

A Celebration of Women in Methodism will begin at the World Methodist Museum at 3:45 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 6, at the World Methodist Museum in Lake Junaluska.

The center of the celebration will be the unveiling of a painting of the first ordained woman in the denomination that comprises the current United Methodists. The event will highlight a number of women in the many families of Methodism, including but not limited to AME Zion, Nazarene, United Methodist and others.

Speakers for the brief ceremony include Bishop Ivan Abrahams, General Secretary of the World Methodist Council; Bishop Charlene Kammerer who has done much international mission work while serving the WNCC and Virginia Conferences; and the Rev. Karen Greenwaldt, General Secretary (chief executive) of the General Board of Discipleship. Also participating in the program will be Yvette Richards, President of the National United Methodist Women (UMW) and Tonya Lanier, President of the Western North Carolina Conference UMW. Special music is being arranged by vocalist Susan Gaddy. Refreshments will be served in the museum library.

Clay Michael Powers of Cataula, Georgia was the artist of the painting. The Rev. Christopher Shoemaker from Wadley, Ga., the principal scholar on Davisson’s life and ordination, did extensive research on this project.

Before being added to Lake Junaluska to add to the collection at the World Methodist Museum, Rev. Davisson’s life was celebrated and the painting shown at a special event in Rensselaer, Indiana on the 148th anniversary of her ordination. A marker concreted the Methodist historic cluster site and a clergy medallion was added to her grave there.

The museum is a ministry of the World Methodist Council which includes 80 denominations of Methodism in more than 130 countries, and is open Tuesday through Saturday.